Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

13 reviews

lillowo's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

Tldr: if you're interested in Reading as much of King as possible, or some of the highlights of his writings, this could be a good book for you. I felt like it was very dated and the characters who we most engaged with were not the most enjoyable. The basis of the plot and the story are super cool, but I didn't feel like it was explored fully.

I totally understand why when this book came out it was really popular. It blends the hard conversations of talking about death with children and the horror of losing a child and really interesting ways. 

That being said, if you are not intending to read a King book because you want to read King's stuff, I would suggest the book How To Sell A Haunted House instead. I found there was a lot of dated language used (the r slur as a major example and ableism generally, the use of an "ancient indigenous burial ground" that brings people back to life), and the perspective of Louis that we got, felt like the idea of her King was looking at was grit and dark things to say to make it feel like a darker read. There were multiple comments that were just made offhandedly that gave the main character this air of being incredibly cynical but without much to back it up. I also felt like some of the through lines that were there weren't fully explored for the sake of

a darker ending. Two of the four family members die, and I brought back to life, and we had no real exploration after the initial moment of how do you talk about death with children.

 

I also felt like a lot of the logic that the characters explored in the book were very half-hearted at best.

the idea of exploring death through this cemetery that brings dead things back to life, is super interesting! I just don't think the logic that was used to explore the impact of it really made sense. Jud decided that it would be a good idea to bring a cat back to life because it's a way to teach kids about death and to make them less scared of the fact that people and creatures die because you just stop liking them. Which also to me felt like King did not really understand cats. Like at one point there's a line about how he's glad that cats are such independent creatures because no one notices that church is different. If my cat started acting like church, I would immediately know something is wrong. They are the snuggliest babies ever. As I was reading that line I had a cat begging for affection. They're also isn't much exploration of this mysticism around the burial ground. It's become a trope in my lifetime, but I don't know if it was a trope then. I do know that it felt very tropy and a mystical element that with the knowledge of the 20th century, felt gross and something that I intentionally distanced myself from on a cognitive level. I think there could be a lot of ways to explore a burial ground that brings people back to life that doesn't engage on tired and egregious tropes around mysticism of indigenous peoples practices.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, Sexism, and Murder

pholcidae's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Aside from the casual racism (using outdated terms for Native American people and unnecessarily bringing people’s skin colour to attention), a near-flawless book.

The story is paced perfectly and I have been reading it nonstop. The author’s use of language to create suspense and terror is reminiscent of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. 

This was my first King novel and I think it was the perfect one to start on! Very tense and lots of fun easter eggs in there :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Murder, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit, Cancer, War, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Excrement, Dementia, Misogyny, Sexism, Addiction, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Religious bigotry

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

My first official Stephen King read did not disappoint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Gaslighting and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism and Racial slurs

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"I don't wanna be buried in a pet sematary,
I don't want to live my life again."
-The Ramones

Louis Creed has moved his family from Chicago to Maine for a job. The house is idyllic with one exception, the road out front is a throughway for very large tanker trucks. When Louis's daughter's cat, Church, is hit by one of these trucks, the neighbor, Jud, shows Louis what to do. They bury Church in the real pet cemetery, a place where the dead don't stay dead. Church comes back not quite right, but he's definitely back. So, when Louis's 2 year old son gets hit by a different truck, Louis does the unthinkable.

I first read this book back in high school and I remember finishing it and being terrified to be home alone. This time around it was just as eerie, but 20 years has given me some perspective. The trope of the "ancient Indian burial ground" is definitely outdated and a little more than gross as is the use of a Wendigo. But the imagery of everything is still spooky.

I really liked Jud and the relationship he had with Louis. It is always nice to see wholesome relationships between men and I feel like King always does a good job at that. The same with the relationship with the other doctors at the University.

There's a lot of good here, but there is a lot of cringe too. Oh, god the bathtub scene. I forgot it was in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, and Racism

Minor: Antisemitism

madamenovelist's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, Sexual content, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Vomit, Ableism, and Car accident

Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism

Minor: Antisemitism

chrisp189's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Child death

Moderate: Racism

archaicgambit's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The only Stephen King book I’ve ever read. Some passages were truly gripping. Others were clumsy and dated. There’s a lot of era-typical misogyny and racism in this. Found myself particularly fascinated by the airport scenes & other 80s references. The extended wizard of Oz symbolism was interesting too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs, Medical trauma, Ableism, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, and Sexism

murderofcrows's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Medical content, Car accident, Grief, Chronic illness, Blood, Child death, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Drug use, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Cannibalism, Ableism, and Racism

kt2e56's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve seen both movies before so I knew where everything was going to wind up but that didn’t ruin this experience all that much. This story is still horrifying. King does a great job of building dread throughout. Michael C. Hall was also an excellent narrator. I think where this loses a star for me is some of the usual King-isms.

It’s a little hard to take the big confrontation between Gage and Judd at the end seriously or find it terrifying when back-from-the-dead toddler Gage is taunting Judd by saying *checks notes* his wife used to cheat on him and loved taking it up the ass?

Yeah. Kinda kills an otherwise extremely tense moment. I also think Lewis kinda sucks at times. Refusing to get Church neutered because it felt like a slight against his own masculinity is just…lol. But anyway! Really solid book! I have kinda missed reading Stephen King. Maybe I’ll read and reread some more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Gore, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and Racism

chloseencounter's review

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Pet Semetery may be the scariest book by King I’ve read so far and it’s definitely the best one I’ve read since The Shining. I think often King’s novels are like the longest build up ever to the world’s saddest orgasm but I actually felt that the pay off was worth it in this novel. I’ll also say that this was some very strong character writing but despite that maybe only two characters were actually likable, though I do at least think the mental decline in Louis over time is articulated well. I was also slightly put off by the completely out of place sex scenes that added literally nothing to the story but King is nothing if not horny. Even though I love to complain about King’s books I really did enjoy this one and would actually recommend it to people especially if you’re new to King or horror in general. I still think it could’ve been edited so much shorter but for the most part it felt more evenly paced than other King novels and I wasn’t often bored. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Child death, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, and Blood

Minor: Chronic illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Grief, and Mental illness